Rights groups, including Release International, are warning that the persecution of Christians in Afghanistan will likely intensify now the Taliban have taken power and the US and NATO have withdrawn, Christian Today (CT) reports. The Afghan church had been driven underground by Islamic apostasy laws even before the Taliban takeover, but the situation is now reported to be “dire.”
The Taliban have taken over Afghanistan and local Christian pastors facing the threat of intensified bloody persecution are standing in faith while calling on the worldwide Body of Christ for prayer. “God has a purpose and a plan,” an Afghan pastor told International Christian Concern (ICC).
Three Christians have been imprisoned in India’s Uttar Pradesh state after Hindu extremists beat them up and accused them of unlawfully converting people to Christianity, Morning Star News reports. Persecution against Christians in India has greatly intensified since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.
Dozens of devoted Christians have fled their homes in southeastern Bangladesh after militant Buddhists damaged their church, church sources say.
Amid anti-Christian propaganda from the oppressive North Korean Kim regime, North Koreans are still hearing the truth of the gospel through a partnership between ICC (International Christian Concern) and FNKR (Free North Korea Radio.)
Vietnam has come under fire from US government officials and international human rights advocates after Vietnamese authorities raided two churches and arrested over 20 Christians, almost all of whom belong to the persecuted Montagnard ethnic group, in May, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
Five Sikhs in Punjab, India physically attacked a widowed mother and her daughters on June 20, because the women are Christians, Morning Star News (MSN) reported on August 4. The five attackers are members of the same family; three of the perpetrators are in jail pending trial.
Enraged that members of their community turned to Christ from Buddhism, Buddhist radicals in Suandrapara, Bangladesh recently destroyed a church building after weeks of threatening the congregation, International Christian Concern reports.
Christian aid workers warned Friday that Afghan Christians are “at a huge risk” as American troops leave the country.
A pastor has paid tribute to eight Christian families driven out of their village in eastern India earlier this year due to their “strong faith” in Jesus Christ.
Church leaders in conflict-ridden Myanmar demand the immediate release of three pastors detained for organizing prayers- for-peace services.
Pakistani police have reportedly detained several suspects after a Christian worker died following attacks by co-workers.
A Christian native missionary in Myanmar says “more than 200 Christian ministers” have died of COVID-19 as the military government restricts medicines and oxygen supplies.
Police in India’s Uttarakhand state arrested and tortured Christian leader Pastor Sanjay Kumar Bharati last month, accusing him of having illegal conversations about religion, International Christian Concern reports. India ranks 10 on the US Open Doors 2021 Watch List of top 50 countries which persecute Christians.
A UK Parliamentary group reported last week that government officials in North Korea have been murdering Christians and other people groups at a rate that may amount to genocide, the Washington Examiner reports. The UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea (APPG) said its report is based on evidence of atrocities committed by North Korean officials against various people groups, including Christians, from 2014 to 2021.
Hindu nationalists in India’s Uttar Pradesh arrested at least 30 Christians in the last month, accusing them of forcing Hindus to convert to Christianity, International Christian Concern reports. Rights groups report that persecution against Christians and other non-Hindu religious groups in India has intensified substantially since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014.
Christians in Indonesia have been forced to pay for funerals of loved ones who died of COVID-19, sources say. At the same time, Muslims could bury coronavirus victims free of charge, Worthy News learned Wednesday.
The wife of a pastor allegedly murdered in northern India for his Christian faith says she will continue his work.
There is fresh concern for the welfare of Christians in Pakistan after two believers were poisoned to death by respective Muslim acquaintances earlier this year, International Christian Concern reports. Rights advocates report that the level of persecution against Christians in Pakistan is “extreme.”
Christian rights groups have recorded 154 incidents of persecution against believers in India for the first half of 2021 alone, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Persecution against Indian Christians has intensified since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.